Friday, August 10, 2012

Michael Haynes

Tuesday evening March 11, 1986, had been slow at the Washington
County Sheriff’s Department in Hillsboro, Oregon. There had only been
the routine calls such as domestic disputes that had gotten out of
hand, reports of prowlers, a few medical emergencies that had been
inadvertently misdirected to the law enforcement agency and the usual
traffic accidents. It had been a typical weeknight evening, and as the
clock slowly approached midnight and a change of shift, it looked like
it would be continuing this way as Wednesday morning ticked into being.
As the graveyard shift dispatcher settled into his chair and
comfortably positioned his headset, he nodded goodnight to the swing
shift deputy and pulled out a new paperback mystery and placed it in
front of him. As he raised the coffee cup to his heavily mustachioed
lips, he patted his shirt in an absent, searching gesture until he found
the half-empty pack of cigarettes. As he struck a match to light one,
his headset began to gently beep as the light on the console rapidly
blinked in front of him, and he intuitively knew that he would not do
much reading.
“Nine-one-one, sheriff’s office,” the dispatcher said. There was a
moment of silence, then a burst of rapid breathing and moaning. It was
unnerving enough that the dispatcher quickly forgot about his paperback.
“Please…help…me…,” said a weak, but strained, female voice. “I’ve
been shot…” The voice trailed off, but the dispatcher could still hear
the caller breathing. Immediately attentive and fearing he may not get
all, or any, of the information he needed from the caller, the
dispatcher quickly began call tracing procedures and asked that another
deputy take over the console to handle routine calls for him while he
dealt with the life-threatening emergency.
“Can you give me your location and your name?” asked the dispatcher.
But there was no reply, only the continued breathing. He repeatedly
asked for information, to no avail. At one point he thought he heard the
faint cries of an infant. He wondered if it, too, had been shot, and
found himself hoping that the assailant would not harm the child if he
was still inside the residence. The thought made his tension rise a few
more percentage points and beads of perspiration burst out of his
forehead.
As the dispatcher waited for the trace to be completed, a hard fist
of anxiety grew in his stomach. Although barely a minute had passed, it
seemed like eternity. Finally, however, the dispatcher had the
information he’d been seeking and he sent deputies as well as medical
assistance to a house located in the 4700 block of Southwest 200th
Avenue in nearby Aloha, a community sandwiched halfway between Beaverton
and Hillsboro.
When the deputies arrived they surveyed the scene to make sure it was
safe. Once satisfied that they and any innocent bystanders were not in
any immediate or apparent danger, they moved toward the house. Noting
that a front window had been broken out, they entered the residence.
With their guns drawn in case the armed assailant was still inside
the house, the deputies made a cursory examination of the interior as
they moved slowly from room to room. They soon found a man who appeared
to be in his mid-40s, dead from an apparent gunshot wound to his chest.
Since he was dead, his body was not moved, although the paramedics
were allowed to officially confirm the deputies’ determination.
Moments later they discovered a teenage girl, unconscious and barely
breathing. She had multiple wounds to her body and, judging from the
puddle beneath her, had lost a lot of blood. Paramedics rushed into the
crime scene with the deputies, as they knew they had at least one live
victim to treat.
Soon the neighborhood roared with the sound of the Life Flight
helicopter, which touched down at a wide place in the road. The girl was
carefully, but quickly placed on a gurney and brought outside, an IV
attached to one of her arms, and she was placed in the helicopter for
the flight to St. Vincent Hospital only moments away.
In an adjacent room, the deputies found a crying baby boy, only a few
months old. When they approached the infant they noticed a strong
smell of urine and surmised that he had not been changed lately. One of
the deputies found a box of Huggies nearby and replaced the wet diaper
with a dry one. Afterwards, he cradled the baby in his arms until the
baby went to sleep.

A short time later, Detective Schultze tentatively identified the
victims as Frank J. Mishler, 46, and his daughter, Sarah Rose Mishler,
16, from identification documents and other papers found inside the
house. From additional papers and witnesses’ statements, the baby was
determined to be Sarah’s.
Schultze and the other investigators wasted no time in canvassing the
neighborhood, while details were still fresh in witnesses’ minds. They
began at the house next door, where they talked to Tim Hunter and his
girlfriend, Belinda Moore.
Hunter told Schultze that he had spent the evening studying with his
girlfriend. At about 12:30 a.m., he said he heard “five thumps in a
row,” but did not immediately think anything of the noise. He said he
realized a short time later, though, that the sounds must have been
gunshots.
When asked to provide a more detailed account, Hunter said he first
heard three shots, then two, perhaps three more within a minute or so.
He then heard a loud vehicle leave quickly from the area, and he didn’t
notice anything else until sheriff’s deputies arrived about 10 or 15
minutes later. Hunter told the detective that he did not know the
Mishlers, and that his girlfriend knew them only slightly.
Schultze next talked with Sam Amason, another neighbor of the
Mishlers. Amason said he had been acquainted with Frank Mishler, but
didn’t know Sarah at all. Amason related that he’d just gone to bed when
the shootings occurred, and he didn’t hear any of the shots and
probably wouldn’t have known anything about the shootings if he hadn’t
been awakened by the sirens and the helicopter.
The child was soon placed in the custody of the Children Services
Division, until such time that it could be determined where to place
him. The first priority would be to try and place him with a close
relative. If those efforts failed, the baby would be placed in a foster
home.
One of the deputies went out to his patrol car to notify his
superiors of the grim discovery found inside the Aloha home. He used his
radio, risking media discovery of the crime, because he didn’t want to
destroy fingerprints on the telephone inside the house by touching it,
even though it seemed unlikely that the perpetrator would have stopped
long enough to make a call. The deputy was instructed to secure the
crime scene and remain there until a team of homicide detectives
arrived.
When Washington County Sheriff Bill Probstfield arrived at the scene,
it was obvious that he’d been awakened from a restful sleep. As he
entered the crime scene, however, a vein in his forehead swelled like a
thick, black snake as his face took on a more intense look. His dark,
watchful eyes missed nothing as he observed the man’s body, and his face
soon became firmly set in deep thought as he tried to make some sense
out of what had happened here.
Among those present at the crime scene were Detective Louis B.
Schultze, a deputy prosecutor, a member of the state medical examiner’s
office and crime lab technicians from the Oregon State Police crime
lab. As each of the officials made their observations and performed
their duties, their eyes held blank stares so no one could read their
minds. They took individual notes which they could later compare to
determine if each had reached the same or similar conclusions as to
what had actually happened.
In addition to the male body, there was considerable evidence at the
scene, including a live round of ammunition for a high-powered rifle.
Because of the discovery of the live round and the massive injuries the
victims had sustained, the investigators surmised that a rifle, perhaps
a .30-06, had been used. They wouldn’t know that for certain, however,
until after the autopsy was conducted, at which time the bullets would
be removed.
As they processed the house, the investigators were careful not to
disturb anything that could in some way serve to reconstruct the scene
or perhaps lead to and/or confirm the identity of the perpetrator. They
didn’t smoke inside the house, use the sinks or the bathroom, as they
didn’t want to inadvertently add anything to the crime scene that could
mislead the investigation or add to the confusion in the house.

In addition to the male body, there was considerable evidence at the
scene, including a live round of ammunition for a high-powered rifle.
Because of the discovery of the live round and the massive injuries the
victims had sustained, the investigators surmised that a rifle,
perhaps a .30-06, had been used. They wouldn’t know that for certain,
however, until after the autopsy was conducted, at which time the
bullets would be removed.
As they processed the house, the investigators were careful not to
disturb anything that could in some way serve to reconstruct the scene
or perhaps lead to and/or confirm the identity of the perpetrator. They
didn’t smoke inside the house, use the sinks or the bathroom, as they
didn’t want to inadvertently add anything to the crime scene that could
mislead the investigation or add to the confusion in the house.
In order to minimize the loss of information, the investigators took
detailed notes of their observations. Among the things they noted was
that the doors and windows to the home had been closed and locked. None
of the doors had any noticeable damage, although a plate glass window
at the front of the home had been broken, leaving a large jagged hole.
This appeared to be the killer’s point of entry. The detectives hoped
that the killer had touched some of the glass with his bare hands, in
which case he likely would have left some identifiable latent
fingerprints.
The only noticeable odors inside the house were those caused by the
baby, and the smell of gunpowder from the shots that had been fired. It
appeared the residents had been in bed or were at least prepared for
bed at the time of the break-in, and because of the lack of any
noticeable signs of a struggle, they may have been surprised by the
intruder.
“(Frank) pretty much kept to himself,” said Amason. “We were very
much surprised, because he was a very nice person as far as we knew.”
Amason said he believed Mishler and his daughter had lived in the
neighborhood for about four or five years.
Another neighbor, Ann Windham, who lived across the street from the
Mishler residence, told Schultze that she heard breaking glass about
12:30 a.m. She said she looked out a window only moments later and saw a
pickup truck moving quickly away from the home without any lights.
The vehicle was described as a 1973 black, four-wheel drive Dodge
“power wagon” pickup with brown doors and a white bed. Although the
pickup had been in the neighborhood before, detectives did not
immediately get a lead on its owner.
Since there was a vast amount of evidence in the house, particularly
in the form of serological and trace evidence, probers remained at the
scene throughout the night and next morning, as they collected anything
and everything that could be used to aid them in their search for a
solid lead.
Blood spatter analysis was performed in the areas where it was
determined the victims had been shot. The blood spatters, which were
found in several locations in close proximity to each other, turned out
to be very important in that they helped place the locations of the
victims relative to the killer.
Depending on the velocity and the angle in which a bullet strikes a
surface, according to a forensic scientist, blood will leave a very
characteristic pattern. For example, if blood is dropped straight down
onto a flat surface, as with a cut wound, its shape will be fairly
circular. On the other hand, if blood is thrown or sprayed at a high
velocity, as is caused by a bullet entering and (sometimes) exiting a
body, the blood on the recipient surfaces will vary. Some of the blood
will move, or fly, at the same velocity of the bullet that discharged
from the victim’s body at speeds of hundreds of feet per second. In this
case, the droplets will be quite minute, often almost invisible to the
eye, in small teardrop shapes many feet away from the victim’s body.
The point of the blood spatter analysis is that, by using
trigonometry and other trajectory methods, investigators can often
demonstrate the locations of the persons involved relative to each
other, information which can be used to rule out or affirm whether a
particular shooting was intentional or an accident. In this case, since
there was more than one victim and because multiple shots had been
fired, the shootings were clearly intentional, and the blood spatter
analysis was done to simply add credence to or diminish the integrity of
the theories developed during the course of the investigation. Such
evidence is often useful in court.
Before Frank Mishler’s body was moved, a forensic pathologist from
the state medical examiner’s office examined it. He concurred that
Mishler had died from a gunshot wound to the chest. He said the victim
appeared to have been shot only once, but added that he wouldn’t be able
to positively make that determination until he performed an autopsy.
Mishler’s body was then taken from the residence and sent to the
Washington County morgue in Hillsboro.
During the next several hours, criminalists collected extensive blood
samples from the Mishler home and removed areas of blood-soaked carpet
to be analyzed at the crime lab. Fingerprint experts also processed
the house, and they found many latent prints at various locations. Many
of the prints were identifiable. Just how many, if any, would be
useful to the case would not be known for some time. All the prints
would have to be compared with those of the victims and to all of those
who participated in the processing of the crime scene or otherwise
took part in the investigation.
Meanwhile, according to Sherre Calouri, public information officer
for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Sarah Mishler underwent
extensive surgery that lasted more than five hours at St. Vincent
Hospital and was listed in critical condition. Calouri said Sarah had
been shot three times in the chest and had also been shot in the left
thigh and right leg. Sarah remained unconscious.
In their attempts to reconstruct the last 24 hours of Frank Mishler’s
life, as well as Sarah’s activities, the detectives re-interviewed the
victims’ neighbors and contacted friends, acquaintances, co-workers
and relatives.
The sleuths learned that Frank had reported for work as usual at his
job at Tektronix, Incorporated, a Beaverton high-technology firm, where
he’d worked since 1958, and he left at his usual time on his last day
at work. Frank’s current job had been as requirement analyst with the
customer service division, said a corporate public relations manager for
the company who described the victim as a “very special person.”
Everyone at Tektronix was shocked at Frank Mishler’s murder, and no
one the investigators talked to could understand why someone would want
to kill him. He was described as kind, well-mannered and liked by
everyone.
Relatives likewise described Frank as a likeable person and easygoing
for the most part. According to one relative, however, Frank was very
upset when Sarah became pregnant, but he supported her in her desire to
keep the child and helped her care for the infant. He hadn’t liked her
boyfriend, 19-year-old Michael Haynes, father of the child, and he
tried to discourage Sarah from seeing him. But she continued to see
Haynes any¬way, and he tried to get along with him for Sarah’s and the
baby’s sake.
Detectives made several attempts to locate Michael Haynes, but failed
in their efforts. They learned that he had a relative living in
Hillsboro, and they followed up that lead with an interview. The
relative, however, said he didn’t know where Michael was, although he
had seen him recently. As a result of the interview, though,
investigators learned of two Portland locations where Haynes apparently
was living alternating between the two as he saw fit.
Following up with interviews at the two Portland locations, where
they learned substantial background information on Haynes, the
detectives again failed in their efforts to locate him. They did,
however, learn that he was recently driving a 1973 Dodge “power wagon”
pickup that fit the description of the vehicle seen speeding away,
without any lights, from the crime scene. As a result, sleuths wanted to
talk to Haynes more than ever and they stepped up their efforts to
locate him.
After conferring with the Department of Motor Vehicles, investigators
determined that the pickup Haynes was believed driving had Oregon
license plate DTB 874. The Washington County lawmen immediately issued
an APB for Haynes and the pickup, and described him as the prime suspect
in the murder of Frank Mishler and the attempted murder of Sarah
Mishler, warning that he may be armed and dangerous.

Meanwhile, Detective Schultze and his investigators received a tip
from a 16-year-old Portland girl. She told the sleuths that Haynes had
called her the day after the shootings. When pressed for details, she
said that Haynes had made some incriminating statements about the
shootings. Specifics of the conversation were not made available.
Additional inquiries into Haynes’ background revealed that he’d
recently worked at a local auto glass shop. The owner told lawmen that
Haynes had worked for him during the week prior to the shootings. He
described Haynes as a hard worker who was dependable, but added that
Haynes had problems related to his girlfriend, Sarah. Part of the
problem, said the owner, was that Mishler disliked or disapproved of
Haynes. The owner told detectives that he had known Haynes for
approximately a year, and that Haynes and Sarah had been seeing each
other during that time frame. “He cared a lot about her,” he added.
The investigators clocked a good deal of overtime working on the
case, particularly during the first 48 hours, perhaps the most critical
time frame of such an investigation. They drank quarts of coffee, ate
their meals at their gray steel government type desks or in their cars
between interviews with potential witnesses and, if they had the time,
they occasionally called home to chat with their families.
During all of Wednesday, March 12th, state highway patrolmen as well
as other police agencies in all the western states, kept a sharp
lookout for the suspect and the vehicle he was believed driving. All
the state and federal highways and the interstates were carefully
watched, as were all the main arteries into the various towns and
cities. But in spite of the APBs and the beefed-up efforts of all the
law enforcement agencies involved in finding Michael Haynes, neither he
nor his vehicle was spotted during the first 30 hours of the
investigation.
Later that day, about 10 p.m., a California Highway Patrol (CHP)
officer working out of the Garberville office, spotted an apparently
abandoned vehicle on U.S. 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, near Miranda,
located about 60 miles south of Eureka near the Humbolt State Park.
According to Jim Shalle, CHP spokesman, the officer noted that the
vehicle, a pickup, fit the description of one that appeared in the APB
issued earlier that day. When the officer checked the license number, he
confirmed it was the vehicle believed to be driven by Haynes.
The truck, the officer learned, was registered to a relative of
Haynes. Since the pickup was believed to have been used by the prime
suspect in a homicide and an attempted murder, the CHP officer did not
attempt to search, move, or otherwise disturb it. Instead, he reported
what he’d found and, aside from recording the obvious facts and
observations, he left the rest of the details to the homicide
investigators and crime lab personnel. As a result, it was not
immediately known if the vehicle had broken down or had simply run out
of gasoline.
After performing their routine duties at the scene of the pickup’s
abandonment, such as photographing it in the condition and location it
was found in, the investigators had the vehicle removed to a more
appropriate facility in Garberville. There it would be gone over more
thoroughly in search of clues.
Following its extensive processing, particularly the search and
collection of minute or trace evidence, the pickup was placed in a
secure location where it was kept until it was no longer needed as
evidence. It was not revealed if anything of significance was found
inside the pickup. In fact, most of the details surrounding the case
were not made public at the time. Much of the information was obtained
from documents filed in court, such as arrest and search warrants and
any information filed by the district attorney’s office. It was
disclosed, however, that Haynes had a close relative living in San
Pablo, located just north of San Francisco, and investigators suspected
he may have been headed there.
As they made arrangements to follow that avenue of the investigation
by going to the relative’s home, the unexpected happened. According to
Detective Larry Hunt of the San Pablo Police Department, Michael Haynes
walked into headquarters at about 2:15 p.m., accompanied by the
relative investigators were planning to officially visit, and
surrendered.

Haynes, wearing casual clothes, was quietly taken into custody on
charges of murder and aggravated assault. He was advised of his
constitutional rights, booked and placed in a cell. The suspect was
subsequently transferred to the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez,
located on the east side of San Francisco Bay. According to authorities
there, Haynes was held without bail until his arraign¬ment and the
initiation of extradition proceedings.
In the meantime, on Sunday, March 17th, at 12:15 p.m., Sarah Rose
Mishler died in St. Vincent Hospital’s Cardiac Recovery Room, from
multiple systems failure resulting from the gunshot wounds to the chest
that she had sustained. Hospital officials said she had remained in
critical condition until her death and that she had never re-gained
consciousness.
After being informed of Sarah’s death, Michael Haynes wept pitifully
in his jail cell where he waited for word on his extradition hearing
and whether the Washington County District Attorney’s Office would
amend the aggravated assault charge to aggravated murder. If they did
amend the charges, Haynes would become a candidate for the death
penalty.
According to Robert Hermann, Washington County deputy district
attorney, the case “slipped into the realm of aggravated murder,” when
Sarah Mishler died. Under Oregon law, said Hermann, one definition of
aggravated murder is the killing of more than one person; there was also
the possibility that burglary was involved in the ordeal, and killing
someone while committing another felony is another theory of aggravated
murder.
Two days later, Haynes appeared in Bay Municipal Court, accompanied
by an attorney, where he said he would not waive his right to challenge
the extradition request, according to Robert J. Kochly, senior deputy
district attorney for Costra County. The extradition hearing was
scheduled for the following week.
At his extradition hearing, Haynes apparently had a change of mind
and said in court that he would not fight his return to Oregon, thereby
waiving his right to challenge Oregon’s extradition request. The news
of his statement was made available to Oregon authorities. Washington
County Undersheriff Gerry Sargeant said Detective Louis Schultze, lead
investigator on the case, would travel to California to make the
necessary arrangements for Haynes’ return and would physically accompany
the suspect.
Shortly after his return to Oregon, Haynes was named in an
eight-count indictment returned by a Washington County grand jury, which
included two counts of aggravated murder. Haynes was being held
without bail, and was represented by Portland attorneys Phil M. Kelley
and Tommy Hawk.
At his arraignment on Friday, April 18th, Robert Hermann of the
district attorney’s office presented evidence to show a “strong
presumption” that Haynes was guilty of the crimes with which he was
charged. Among the evidence provided was a tape recording of Sarah
Mishler’s call to Washington County’s 9-1-1 emergency number following
the shooting, only moments before she lost consciousness. Other evidence
included autopsy results by Dr. Larry V. Lewman, acting state medical
examiner, who determined that Sarah and her father had both died as a
result of their wounds, and the testimony of the 16-year-old Portland
girl who told investigators she received a call from Haynes the day
after the shootings, in which he purportedly made some incriminating
remarks.
After Circuit Judge Donald C. Ashmanskas ruled that the state had met
its burden showing “proof is evident or the presumption strong” that
the defendant is guilty, he refused to set bail for the suspect. Haynes
subsequently pleaded innocent to the charges.
Haynes’ case never made it to trial, however. Faced with the
insurmountable evidence against him and the possibility of the death
penalty, Michael Haynes, accompanied by his attorneys, appeared again
before Judge Ashmanskas on Friday, December 12th. He pleaded guilty to
one count of aggravated murder as part of a plea bargain in return for
which the district attorney’s office agreed not to seek the death
penalty. As part of the agreement, seven other counts would be dismissed
against Haynes.
In a written statement attached to his plea agreement, Haynes said he
shot Frank and Sarah Mishler after they had refused to let him see his
baby son.
“When Sarah and Frank would not allow me to see my son (they had
refused to allow me to see him on other occasions in the past),” said
Haynes’ statement, “and after Frank made statements to me which caused
me to be concerned about my son’s physical welfare, I became very angry.
I left the home, obtained a rifle, returned to the Mishler residence,
broke into their home and shot Frank and Sarah.”
On Friday, December 19, 1986, Mi¬chael Robert Haynes was sentenced by
Judge Ashmanskas to life in prison without possibility of parole for
30 years. Haynes showed little emotion at the sentence, but an
unidentified female specta¬tor cried, “I love you, Mike,” as he was led
from the courtroom. Haynes is now serving his sentence at Oregon State
Penitentiary.
Editor’s Note:Tim Hunter, Belinda Moore, Ann Windham and Sam Arnason are not
the real names of the persons so named in the foregoing story.
Fictitious names have been used because there is no reason for public
interest in the identities of these persons.

4 comments:

My name is Brett Harper, originally Robert Lee Haynes. This story is about my mother and father and me. My life is full of some pretty crazy stories. I want to write some of them out. I would like to maybe sit down with the author of this sometime if I may? My email is djproducerslayerx@gmail.com 503-307-6784

I went to Jr High with Mike. He was my friend. I spent many nights at his house and knew the Mike many never saw. I hope that Mike gets some chance at some kind of a life as he never had much of a life when we were growing up. I'd reach out to him, and hope to help him salvage some life out of the few years he has. If you want to know or have questions. My name is Rich I knew Mike's family, his brothers David and Kenny and his sister Cherlene, as well as his parents. My email is roughouse@ymail.com

I didn't know Sarah well, but we went to high school together. We would hang out together in PE class. I remember her as a really nice person, and always think of her when I hear a certain song on the radio, and wonder what had happened to her, as school gossip is never complete. Thank you for sharing her story.